Fusion (ALIF) on L4/L5 & L5/S1 scheduled for May 28th

[Greg]

Justin,

Good article....I just hope I'm not one of those people that the surgeon decided to do the complex 2 level fusion on versus the more conservative approach. Time will tell, May 28th is D-Day so we'll see then.

BTW....sorry to go MIA for so long. I was in a bad place emotionally and medically being denied surgery's, med's, pain mgmt, doctors, everything! Posting around on the site reading peoples stories of people who are being treated the way a human being should and getting cared for got me down and frustrated too much to participate. I finally found a clinical trial for fusion 3 hours away. Went for a visit and they tried to go the insurance route 1st just to check (even though I was denied 3 times at the end of last year for the fusion) and amazingly the surgery scheduler spent 15 minutes on the phone only stating what my problems were and we wanted to do fusion AND THEY SAID, "SURE, WE'LL APPROVE IT!"

Now this should be great news to hear but the fact is I was denied 3 times last year for the same surgery and we provided a book of medical documents/test/films and everybit of information medically pertaining to my back. Now 5 months later (and oh, I havent hit my out-of-pocket cap this time) a simple 15 minute authoriztaion phone call got the go ahead. I cant believe they denied me and made me suffer (w/o a dr and meds) until my deductibles was reset and I would have to pay for some of the surgery Like I said earlier, with everything that had gone wrong up to that point and the arbitrary denial of the standard surgery I am a perfect candidate for happened I was in a bad place in my life.

BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED!!!!

So I am happy to say I'm actually being cared for like an almost disabled back pain sufferer should be. I just cant figure out where the best place is to post my story of the, "Hey I'm back everyone, this is what happened and this is whats happening." Got any suggestions of where to post my "book" so everyone doesnt think I fell off the face of the earth?

GLAD TO BE BACK

[Katie]

Well Greg, I found you here quickly this morning, so this is as good a place as any I think

I am thrilled that you finally have justice, that life is moving forward for you after all these battles. I'm sorry if I contributed to your funk, your depression by posting my surgery story, but now you get to join those of us who finally 'got it' too after years of battling.

If you had tried to tell me just before Christmas that I would be one month post op right now, I would have thought you were loony. I had no faith that it was going to happen. I'm also thrilled that you are getting the insurance to cover things for you...I can only dream...there is no way that I will ever be reimbursed for any of mine.

You must be ecstatic!

[Gilbert P]

HI Greg

You could post it in the Lounge or here I found you.
Glad you now have a plan It looks like I wont be to far behind you
Who is your surgeon? and where is he or she located?

All the best

Gil

[Justin]

Hey Greg,

Great to see you posting again. I'm glad you are finally moving forward. Back issues at a young age are truly difficult. However, I know you will bounce back quickly after surgery and you will be on the road to many pain-free years.

[Greg]

HI Greg

You could post it in the Lounge or here I found you.
Glad you now have a plan It looks like I wont be to far behind you
Who is your surgeon? and where is he or she located?

All the best

Gil

Sounds good! Once I get some free time (and I'm gonna need a lot of it) I'll put together my story of what happened when I went MIA for 6 months.....oh those were rough ones

Dr Thomas Dimmig (Male), Triangle Orthopeadics out of Durham, NC will be doing my surgery. Fusions and ADR is primarily all he usually does. They have lots of clinical trials out of their office so even though I had to drive 3 hours to get to him, I feel I'm in good hands....just wish I could have got ADR but oh well....fusion is better than nothing!

Well Greg, I found you here quickly this morning, so this is as good a place as any I think

I am thrilled that you finally have justice, that life is moving forward for you after all these battles. I'm sorry if I contributed to your funk, your depression by posting my surgery story, but now you get to join those of us who finally 'got it' too after years of battling.

If you had tried to tell me just before Christmas that I would be one month post op right now, I would have thought you were loony. I had no faith that it was going to happen. I'm also thrilled that you are getting the insurance to cover things for you...I can only dream...there is no way that I will ever be reimbursed for any of mine.

You must be ecstatic!

Katie, you definitely did NOT contribute to the "dark period" of my life. I am so thrilled that you finally got to move forward. I really missed chatting with you and all the others who TRULY helped me get through a lot of depressing times. I'm ecstatic that I'm moving forward and even happier that I am back at SPS and can help others like those many who helped me. Congratulations again for finally getting it done

Hey Greg,

Great to see you posting again. I'm glad you are finally moving forward. Back issues at a young age are truly difficult. However, I know you will bounce back quickly after surgery and you will be on the road to many pain-free years.

So true Justin, sorry again for going MIA especially with you personally trying to contact me and lift my head up. Never thought I would meet someone who takes such a personal approach to ensuring everyone is taken care of and not left feeling alone in the dark scary world of back pain. Thanks again for all the help

[linda]

Hey Greg,
So glad you are back! I missed my NC friend. Also Dr. Dimmig is my doc too. He is a really cool, laid back doctor. I have been seeing him for 2 years now. I wish you much luck with your surgery and I can't wait to hear about it. I timed out again out of the Freedom disc trial. I'm just not quite ready mentally to do it. I also feel like fusion may be better for me being that my last disc is gone. Can you tell me more about your surgical trial?
Take Care,
Linda

[Greg]

Hey Greg,
So glad you are back! I missed my NC friend. Also Dr. Dimmig is my doc too. He is a really cool, laid back doctor. I have been seeing him for 2 years now. I wish you much luck with your surgery and I can't wait to hear about it. I timed out again out of the Freedom disc trial. I'm just not quite ready mentally to do it. I also feel like fusion may be better for me being that my last disc is gone. Can you tell me more about your surgical trial?
Take Care,
Linda

Linda,

It is great to be back in touch with everyone as well. Even better that we are going to the same doctor....your impression of him along with my perception makes me feel even more comfortable with him. Ironically he just had a back surgery done on him last week i think. Who would of thought the spine surgeon would need spine surgery

I'm sorry to hear you didnt get into the Freedom disc trial again I do believe that everything happens for a reason and as much as we may dislike them and be extremely confused about them, there is a bigger plan higher up

The clinical trial I was "SUPPOSED" to get into did some stuff with using stem cells in between the vertebraes to speed up the fusion. Amazingly (even though it ticked me off for prior reasons) the insurance decided to pay for the surgery so I wont be in the trial....just getting a good ol' anterior fusion.

I've had nothing but good experiences with Dr Dimmig so far so I hope they are the same with the surgery. I've never had a dr who personally called me so many times to discuss things....that part really made me like him:thumpup: If I said the meds arent enough and I want to try this dose this many times a day instead of what he Rx, he hasnt had issues with and makes it happen. What a guy....actually listens to me and does what a dr should do. When I was in the office with him for the first time deciding what procedure to do he told me,"Well Greg, you seem like your very educated in all of this. What type of fusion do you think we should do? ALIF, PLIF, etc?" That was pretty cool to say the least. Of course I wasnt 100% the person in charge but it makes you feel good when they let you get involved in calling the shots. Take care and talk to you soon!

[Carmen]

Justin,

Good article....I just hope I'm not one of those people that the surgeon decided to do the complex 2 level fusion on versus the more conservative approach. Time will tell, May 28th is D-Day so we'll see then.

BTW....sorry to go MIA for so long. I was in a bad place emotionally and medically being denied surgery's, med's, pain mgmt, doctors, everything! Posting around on the site reading peoples stories of people who are being treated the way a human being should and getting cared for got me down and frustrated too much to participate. I finally found a clinical trial for fusion 3 hours away. Went for a visit and they tried to go the insurance route 1st just to check (even though I was denied 3 times at the end of last year for the fusion) and amazingly the surgery scheduler spent 15 minutes on the phone only stating what my problems were and we wanted to do fusion AND THEY SAID, "SURE, WE'LL APPROVE IT!"

Now this should be great news to hear but the fact is I was denied 3 times last year for the same surgery and we provided a book of medical documents/test/films and everybit of information medically pertaining to my back. Now 5 months later (and oh, I havent hit my out-of-pocket cap this time) a simple 15 minute authoriztaion phone call got the go ahead. I cant believe they denied me and made me suffer (w/o a dr and meds) until my deductibles was reset and I would have to pay for some of the surgery Like I said earlier, with everything that had gone wrong up to that point and the arbitrary denial of the standard surgery I am a perfect candidate for happened I was in a bad place in my life.

BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED!!!!

So I am happy to say I'm actually being cared for like an almost disabled back pain sufferer should be. I just cant figure out where the best place is to post my story of the, "Hey I'm back everyone, this is what happened and this is whats happening." Got any suggestions of where to post my "book" so everyone doesnt think I fell off the face of the earth?

GLAD TO BE BACK

Dear Greg,
I am very interested in your story. I am having the same surgeries. (notice the S on surgeries.) I have too much
arthritas for the procedure to be done at one time. (over 12 hours) I cannot have the anesthesia on for that amount of time. I also have scoliosis so a few more steps have to be completed. Please let me know where your post on your story will be. My time frame will be on June 23, and June 28th. I will be having 6 levels. Carmen

[Greg]

Dear Greg,
I am very interested in your story. I am having the same surgeries. (notice the S on surgeries.) I have too much
arthritas for the procedure to be done at one time. (over 12 hours) I cannot have the anesthesia on for that amount of time. I also have scoliosis so a few more steps have to be completed. Please let me know where your post on your story will be. My time frame will be on June 23, and June 28th. I will be having 6 levels. Carmen

Carmen,

I've read up on your story and cant imagine going through what you have and plan to do. The last post I remember reading about your story was you had 2 opinions and pursuing a third. Have you received the 3rd surgical opinion? Are all the doctors pointing you to the same surgery?

Mine is on the 28th of May so I gess I dont have too much longer. I think I'll probably just start a new thread in the Spinal Fusion section since this is ultimately what I am having done. Be forwarned though....this will probably end up being a short novel I need to get my rear in gear and get it up though. It's just gonna take me some time to put it all together and I happen to be a professional procrastanator

Best of luck to you Carmen and I hope that you feel comfortable and confident with the procedure you undergo!

[Greg]

Carmen,

I've read up on your story and cant imagine going through what you have and plan to do. The last post I remember reading about your story was you had 2 opinions and pursuing a third. Have you received the 3rd surgical opinion? Are all the doctors pointing you to the same surgery?

Mine is on the 28th of May so I gess I dont have too much longer. I think I'll probably just start a new thread in the Spinal Fusion section since this is ultimately what I am having done. Be forwarned though....this will probably end up being a short novel I need to get my rear in gear and get it up though. It's just gonna take me some time to put it all together and I happen to be a professional procrastanator

Best of luck to you Carmen and I hope that you feel comfortable and confident with the procedure you undergo!

You've gotten me off my butt and the story (well as little of it as possible to get the points across without making you read for hours) is up. Thanks for the extra nudge I needed Carmen Heres the link.

http://www.spinepatientsociety.org/f...599/#post12784